Episode 400: Live at The Townsend! With Suzanna Choffel, Justin Elliott, Nakia, A.J. Vallejo and Jazz Mills

hello friends! welcome to episode 400 recorded live at the townsend in austin, tx. my guests for this show are suzanna choffel, justin elliott, nakia, a.j. vallejo and jazz mills! i would like to thank all of my guests, the townsend for hosting us so graciously, the werd company for coming out and recording it so beautifully and most of all the crowd that came out and made it so fun. this is a great show! we talk about periscope, amazing cocktails including one called, "how did i get here?", aj asks me to smell his finger, french trips, more cocktails and much, much more. i hope you enjoy it as much as we did. thank you for listening to this show. i feel like the last 400 episodes have been life-changing for me. i can't wait to see what the next 400 episodes hold. thanks again for listening. it makes me happy. let's get down!ciao! -jg

Episode 387: Löwin Returns! / Solstice Festival

yo people who read these transmissions from my sad, little brain! i hope you're all doing well. things are good here. i've been rehearsing, seeing bands, doing podcasts and generally trying to stay cool. on today's show, we get a special visit from and have a quick chat with matt, lauren and adrian from solstice festival. it's a free festival that takes place saturday, june, 20th 2015 from noon to 10 pm at pan am park in austin, tx. the festival features ringo deathstarr, zeale, jazz mills, money chicha, dead love club and many, many more. matt, lauren and adrian fill us in on solstice live, solstice festival, the shows this thursday and friday in 14 clubs and more. you can also go to solticeatx.com and find out line ups and info. my guests for episode 387 are sara and chris from the band, löwin! this is the band's second appearance on the show. they've just released a fantastic, new e.p. called, royal jelly. you can find it on itunes, spotify, soundcloud, select record stores and at their shows. if you live in austin, you can see löwin every saturday in june at the blackheart on rainey st. at midnight. i've seen them they're a great band. sara is a great musician/singer/frontwoman. we have a great conversation about they're new ep royal jelly, kanye west, writing and recording, songs with the names sara and johnny, the current music scene and much, much more! i hope you enjoy getting to know löwin as much as i have. let's get down!ciao! -jg

Episode 386: Darin Murphy

hello friends! i hope you're all finding your way through the maze of life without having to go back to the beginning a bunch of times. things are good here. summer is kicking in and i've been in a bathing suit of some sort since monday... so that's pretty good. i'm going to hit the pool, go to the movies and see some outdoor shows. you know. just some summer stuff. my guest for episode 386 is my dear old friend and skyrocket bandmate, darin murphy! darin came by a few weeks ago and we went on a four-mile walk and we recorded it. it was a great walk and a great conversation with one of my best friends. we talked about his finely-tuned ear, his solo records, getting his ass kicked in the studio, trish and darin, broadway, the fab-fourgeries, skyrocket and much, much more. i hope you enjoy getting to know one of my favorite people to make music and hang out with. i sure have. let's get down! ciao! -jg

Repost Episode:166: The Jitterbug Vipers, Slim Richey

slim richey, 1938-2015hello friends. it is with great sadness that i bring you the repost of this episode of "how did i get here?" episode 166: the jitterbug vipers. yesterday, legendary jazz guitarist and beautiful soul, slim richey, lost his battle with lymphoma. this is a great loss to our community and our tribe. my heart and condolences go out to his family, his lovely wife and musical partner, francie meaux jeaux, his friends and his viper bandmates, sarah sharp and masumi jones. sadly, with this great loss comes a great financial burden with slim having spent a lot of the last couple of months in the hospital and funeral costs. you can help francie and the family by going to their gofundme page and donating what you can. i hope you enjoy this great/crazy conversation and get something out of it. i sure did. slim will be missed.

Episode 360: Mandy Rowden / Ashley Monical

hello friends! i hope you're all doing well. if you live in austin, sxsw 2015 is upon us. i'm getting my head around this whole week. i'm playing with skyrocket tonight and tomorrow, then sunday i'll doing the beats delicious festival and things won't stop for me until next sunday... i'm gonna be talking to a lot of people. tune in over the next month to hear my conversations with bands from all over the world. ashley monical stopped by the other day to talk to me about her kickstarter campaign for her new album which ends on april 8th 2015. here's a link, check it out. ashley's kickstarter.  ashley's a great artist, help her reach her goal!my guest for episode 360 is singer/songwriter/girl guitar school founder, mandy rowden! mandy just put out a new album called, these bad habits, produced by the great joe carroll. she'l be heading out on tour soon, so look for her coming to a town near you. mandy stopped by the other day and we had a great conversation about her new album, how she was almost a juror on my mom's murder trial, girl guitar, my gay socks, growing up a home-schooled baptist and much, much more. i hope you enjoy getting to know mandy. i sure did. let's get down!ciao! -jg

Episode 341: Elias Haslanger Returns! / Pick With Austin Checks In

hello friends! i hope you're getting into your new year in style and with all the hope you had on new years eve. i spent the day running errands and i had lunch with my old friend, katrina. it was great catching up with her. i want to thank the folks that wrote in about the dwight twilley episode. i am hoping to get dwight in a face-to-face situation where we can really talk. i'm glad we did it. i'm going to try to do more phoners if i can get ahold of folks. do you like them? hey! if you're in austin tonight, friday, jan 9th 2015, SKYROCKET! is playing at the one-2-one bar on south lamar. we go on at 10. come out. say hi.my guest for episode 341 is my old friend and jazz great, elias haslanger! elias was on the show two years ago when he put out his album, church on monday. since he was last on, his "church on monday" shows at the continental club gallery have grown, they released a live album, live at the gallery, that has received amazing critical acclaim 4 1/2 stars in downbeat magazine and climbed to #14 on the jazz radio charts. also, tomorrow, elias and his church on monday band will be playing with alejandro escovedo at the acl moody theater as alejandro's orchestra. eli is a great musician and a real inspiration for staying inspired. i hope you enjoy our conversation. i sure did. let's get down!ciao! -jg

Episode 334: Wayne Sutton

hello friends! i hope you're all doing well! happy first day of hanukkah! christmas is next week and i haven't even started shopping yet... i'm going to try to do it in two days... is that even possible?  stay tuned and find out. my friend, bill carter has a kickstarter campaign for a new album, play on, with just four days left to fund. bill was on the show a couple of years ago and is due for another visit. anyway, he's one of my favorite songwriters and i would like to see his project get funded. go to bill carter kickstarter donate some cash and get help an amazing artist. my guest for episode 334 is phenomenal guitar player, singer, songwriter and all-around great guy, wayne sutton! you might know wayne sutton best from his band, sister 7 or as they were known in the early days, little sister. their band was pivotal in creating what was known as the "black cat scene" with other bands like joe rockhead, ian moore, soulhat and others. i go to know wayne when that whole scene moved down sixth street to steamboat and became part of the "steamboat scene" which was a bigger club a couple of blocks down sixth st. anyway, wayne has gone on to play with many, many bands and most recently has started a guitar/cello duo with steve bernal that plays at the one-2-one bar on tuesdays. i had a great time talking to wayne. he's a real sweet and entertaining dude. let's get down!ciao! -jg

Episode 325: Jason McMaster Returns!

hello chosen people of podcast land! i hope you're all doing well and settling into fall. maybe you've already had the first fire of the season... the holidays are coming and i hope you're prepared. maybe you've made your plans. i think i've made mine. i'm not going to thanksgiving with my family like normally do. sadly, shows have prevented that from happening this year. oh well. i'l have christmas with the family. hey! i want to let you now that one of our favorite guests and one of my dear friends, suzanna choffel has a pledge music campaign and it's coming to a close in 6 days. you can help her put that album out by going to her pledge music campaign page and getting involved with her album.my guest for episode 325 is rocker, jason mcmaster! jason is making his second appearance on the show. you might know jason from his many, many bands including, watchtower, dangerous toys, gahdzilla motor company, broken teeth, evil united and many, many more. his band, evil united just put out a fantastic new album, honored by fire. he's been putting out hard rock for four decades and he's recently released a single called, "xmas time" that is a total departure from what we know jason for. he's a great artist with a ton of musical output and he's a really sweet guy and i've enjoyed his friendship for over 20 years now. i hope you enjoy our conversation. i did. let's get down!ciao! -jg

Episode 323: Ed Jarusinsky

hello friends! i hope you've voted and feel good about the decision you've made as to who will be our leaders. just remember, if it ends up terrible, it's all your fault. just kidding. i hope you're all doing well. i am. i have gotten a slow start with this podcast because i just got behind. that happens. i had a good weekend in houston playing shows with skyrocket and hanging out with my family. this week we're home. we only have one skyrocket show which is this saturday, at hanovers in pflugerville. if you live in the north austin area, come out and experience the madness.my guest for episode 323 is the amazing drummer, ed jarusinsky! you might know ed from him playing with robyn ludwick, kevin mckinney, wrenfro and many, many more. i've known ed for a few years but not very well so i was excited to sit down and have a long talk with him. boy did we have a long talk about everything from a 70's kiss concert on hbo, growing up in conneticut, getting into metal, prog and jazz, the university of north texas, moving to austin and navigating the scene and much, much more. i had a great time getting to know ed. i'm sure you will too. let's get down!ciao! -jg

Episode 315: Three:33

hello friends! i think my long internet wireless router nightmare will be coming to a close soon. time-warner is coming on saturday to fix my problem. until then, i'll be traveling and playing shows. today i'm headed to scottsdale, arizona for a show with SKYROCKET!. tomorrow, we'll be flying to houston for another show and then home on friday afternoon. we have a good time traveling together. check out my instagram for photos of the trip if that's something you're into. my guest for episode 315 is frontman extraordinaire, tony park from the band, three:33! some of you may know tony from his old band and my old friends, pushmonkey. i've known tony for over 20 years and i've seen him play shows at co-op house parties in '92 to seeing sharing a weekly residency with his band, pushmonkey and seeing them open for kiss, to opening for them on their major-label record release tour. in all that time though, i've never gotten to just sit down and talk o tony for an extended period of time. we got to a couple of weeks ago and it was awesome!  i'm looking forward to more hangs with this amazingly talented and super-sweet dude. enjoy our conversation. i did. let's get down!ciao!- jg